Photo snippets from Reading lessons

I have been a terrible blogger lately! But I've been a very regular Instagrammer, so I thought I'd share some of the photos from our Reading lessons that I've been putting on Instagram.

I bought these fantastic little lights on Amazon a couple of weeks ago. We've been enjoying using them as pointers during guided reading sessions.

Pop for Letters is one of my students' favourite games. Early in the year they just identify the letter name. Then they begin to identify the letter sound. After that they identify a word that begins with that sound, or end with that sound. Now they have to provide the name, the sound and a word!

These are some reading groups activities. Top left is making high frequency words using playdough. Top right was the guided reading group I was working with. Bottom left is an awesome game called Shark! (my kids love the shark attack cards). Bottom right is Pop for Letters.

In the last couple of weeks I've had to change reading groups to make five groups because the range of reading is expanding. Now we do two activities, as well as silent reading. The top two are the books that I read with my guided reading groups. Bottom left is Pop for Rhyming Words (love!). Bottom middle is playing Memory/Concentration with high frequency word cards. Bottom right is matching CVC words with the matching pictures.

When we were focussing on rhyming words I would write a nursery rhyme or tongue twister up on the board each morning. We'd read it, identify the rhyming words, and then brainstorm more words that rhymed.

We'd been focussing on these letter combinations for a while, so it was time to check what they could do. Each child had a card and had to look at the picture, say the word, and then identify the letter combination in the word. This was a whole group activity so there was lots of 'helpers' for those who needed it. I used cards from two different photo cards boxes: Learning Resources Alphabet Photo Cards and Learning Resources Kindergarten Vocabulary Photo Cards.

I'm a very visual person when it comes to reading/looking at blog posts, so I think this is a format I will try to stick with for a little while. Let's see if I can blog more than once every two months!

Two Freebies at my TpT store!

My blogging frequency is getting better. And so is my product-making! I've uploaded three new things in the past couple of days. Today's two new ones are FREE!!

The first is a pack for the digraph /ng/ but only focusing on words with 'ing at the end (not as a suffix). For example, it includes the words sing, swing, wing, ring and king. There is a worksheet, a set of five puzzles and a Clip It style set of cards, where you clip the picture the has 'ing at the end.

I will be using this pack this term, coupled with my Sh Ch Th Digraph Pack. We have finished learning the letters of the alphabet and next we learn these common digraphs.


The second is a product called Alphabet Monsters Spin the Wheel Spelling or Phonics Task. You print two pages, laminate them, and then attached them together with a split pin. This means you can spin the front wheel around and only show one picture at a time through a chunk cut out of the front wheel. Students could use it to practice initial sounds, final sounds or spelling tricky words. The two sheets are different because one covers the letters A-P and the other is K-Z.

I have a set of cards similar to this that I inherited from the previous teacher who taught prep at my school. I have absolutely no idea where she got them from! If you have seen something similar please let me know, I'd love to give credit where it's due. I use this as a reading group task later in the year when my kids are ready for a challenge in their spelling and thinking about phonics.

These are free, so check them out! I'd love to hear any feedback about these.

Time to catch up and Five for Friday and March Currently

I haven't blogged in a very long time. It was week three the last time I blogged, and we are about to go in to week 7 this week!! Phew, the time has flown. I have had a few new roles at school which I've been getting my head around, and I've been sick which is absolutely no fun. But I'm back, and I'm going to keep on trying to post more often! Starting with a link-up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.

-one-
After I have taught a few letters we have a week of revision, and that week was last week. We revised six letters (s m a t p c). I decided to really push my term 1 preps during the revision week to see what they could do - and I was really impressed! They had to sort images by initial sounds, draw pictures of things starting with the sounds we have learnt, practiced their handwriting of the six letters, and (the hardest of all) identify and record the initial sound for different words. This is the one that stumped quite a few of them, which I knew it would, but some of my preps totally blew me away! They were doing exactly what I had taught them to do: say the word, say it slowly, listen to the sound, check which letter makes that sound, record what you hear. It was so exciting!!

-two-
I had my first sick day this week, and I didn't give my class any warning about it. But they were totally fine!! We talked about it the day after and they told me what they did while I was away, and we talked about what they had learned. It was a relief to see that my preppies are settled enough that a surprise CRT (sub teacher) day was totally fine.

-three-
My sister has started selling Arbonne products, and she gave me a mini makeover today. It was fun, and I looked pretty! Haha... I'm the sort of person who slaps on a bit of tinted moisturiser and a hint of mascara and heads out the door. So I was a bit more girly for a change!

-four-
I am currently obsessed with two TV shows. The Block (Australian renovation show) and Bitten (Canadian werewolves). Love them both! And room reveals are on tonight for The Block!

-five-
I am also obsessed with a book trilogy. Yep, I am finally on the bandwagon of loving Divergent by Veronica Roth. I read Divergent in three days, and am now on to Insurgent. Love it!!

And here is my March Currently from Oh' Boy 4th Grade.

Here is my new phone case. It is an image from my favourite book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. If you haven't read the book you should!! This picture is shown without the detail of the elephant draw initially and it looks like a hat, but once the details are filled in you can see that it is a snake that has eaten an elephant. It is all about perspective and having the right information. I love it!!

New TpT Product: Alphabet Playdough Mats

I have just uploaded a new product on Teachers Pay Teachers. It is an Alphabet Playdough Mat set. There are two sets of the alphabet included. One set uses Victorian Modern Cursive as the font, the other is in Comic Sans MS. The awesome clipart is Graphics From the Pond - I love that stuff!!

I think I will make a numbers set to match this one tomorrow!

Five for Friday link-up

I'm joining up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

-one-
Our second week of school went very well. We did our first Science lesson this week. The lesson was about listing things that we need to stay alive. We compared what chickens need and what people need to stay alive. This was our T-chart (sorry about the glare):

-two-
We started learning letters this week. I start with S then M, and do two letters a week. I always start with a brainstorm of words that start with the sound we are learning. Here is our circle map for /m/:

-three-
After the brainstorm the preppies do an initial sounds sheet from my TpT product. They love that we do the same thing each time we learn a new letter - it gives them a sense of routine:

-four-
Then we do a craft that links to the sound/letter we learn. Here are our /m/ monsters!

-five-

We practiced subitizing, recording, using dice and writing numbers in maths this week. The group I've got this year are stronger in maths than in literacy so far. It has been really interesting.

So that's part of my week in pictures. It was a fantastic week! Looking forward to next week. We are learning A and T.

A revamped product just uploaded!

I have just finished an overhaul of one of my products. It has new clip art (from Graphics From the Pond), a new border and a revised layout. It still has Victorian Modern Cursive though. Here is a before pic and an after pic - what a difference!!!

 

You can buy a copy here. 

I use these sheets when I teach a new letter, but you could use them as revision sheets as well. A buyer who got the 'before' version said that they have laminated a set and use whiteboard markers with them as part of a writing corner.

Today I have also been working on a new product. It's not quite finished, but it's nearly there. It's all about gross motor skills, which is something I will be working on with my preppies this year.